Chapter 35: Alchemy 101
Noah and Arlo left the cafeteria still full from breakfast, the warmth of fresh bread and the chaos Juniper had left behind trailing after them.
Their first class of the day was Alchemy, and according to Arlo, it would be unlike any other magic class they’d had so far.
The alchemy classroom was located in the basement of a building that smelled of chalk dust and crushed herbs.
The windows, which were fixed to the top of the walls where the walls still met open air at ground level, were cracked open, and the scent of dried mushrooms, burnt roots, and powdered crystals filled the air.
Rows of workbenches lined the room, each one fitted with a small cauldron, weighing scale, mortar, pestle, and a collection of labeled jars filled with odd-looking powders and crushed ingredients.
As they settled in, the teacher, a sharp-eyed man with ink-stained fingers and a permanent scowl, wrote a single word on the board.
Transmutation.
He turned to face them. "That is the only word you need to understand in this class."
Alchemy, as they soon learned, was not about casting spells or summoning flames. It was a volatile branch of ritual magic, focused entirely on the act of changing one thing into another. Transmutation, just like the professor had said.
But this was not the sort of flashy transmutation that turned rocks into gold or metal into swords.
Alchemy, here at the Royal Academy, was focused specifically on magical objects and resources, things pulled from beasts, harvested from the land, or extracted through magic.
Its primary goal was transformation into usable forms. Pills, potions, salves, powders, tools a mage could use in battle, healing, or advancement.